Brenda writes about business cards for GDC, something which I’ve written about and to this day is one of the top 5 most popular articles on this blog. I want to ruminate a bit on the number of business cards you should bring to GDC.
So the first year I went to GDC, a complete newbie, I brought 200 business cards. I ran out by the end of the conference.
The next year I brought 300. I didn’t run out, 300 was enough.
My third and fourth years, 300 was also just about enough.
Year five, I ran out at 300. Although I think the reason for this is I had just started my company and wanted to give people a new card with my company name on it, so I was giving my card to people I knew very well in addition to people I’d never met.
I’m bringing 500 cards this year. I don’t think I’ll use more than 250, but you never know.
EDIT: Okay, Joe is probably right. I’m a weirdo supernetworker. Most people I’ve gone to GDC with give away about 100 or 150 cards during the week of the show.
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Heh, coincidentally, I was about to email you and ask this exact question. Your “effective networking” series has been a big help. Thanks. =)
This will be my first time at GDC, I managed to get into the conference assistant program this year. Should be fun!
The year someone makes a collectible business card game at GDC is the year I’m a very happy man.
But… I did!
Okay, it wasn’t a CCG per se, but it was a business card game.
Maybe you just love talking to people, Darius. :)
I usually bring whatever’s left in the box to conferences, and only hand out 50-100 cards. In fact, I’ve never made it all the way through a box of cards… my title, phone number, or something else changes before I manage to give them all away.
I always panic and bring way too many cards to any event. Perhaps that’s because of Brenda’s influence, and she admits that she does the exact same thing. =D
But really, having extra cards lying around just means less you have to have made for next event, so eh, not much harm done.
…Unless, of course, you keep trying different iterations on your cards, like I do. Then it becomes kind of a waste. I still need to get around to throwing out my massive stacks of old outdated cards I never gave out. D’oh!
Hehe… one of the assignments in my practical game design class is to create a CCG that can be played with business cards, so I have a small pile of student work in this area.
It’s actually quite a challenging design exercise.
I’ve never gone over 100 or so business cards in several GDCs to date. I think 100 is generally plenty, for most folks, personally.
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